Brenda Didier knows a thing or two about drawing an audience in through dance.
The Libertyville resident has won multiple Jeff Awardsfor her work throughout Chicagoland, and she owns the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance. Brenda is currently working with Porchlight Music Theatre, where she is an advisory board member and artistic associate, on “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
We talked with her about what got her started, how she choreographs a show and how she keeps her work fresh.
Make It Better: How did you become interested in theater and choreography?
Brenda Didier: I took ballet lessons when I was a little girl, fell in love with musical theater in high school, and started auditioning. Then my friend was directing ‘A Chorus Line’ and she asked me if I’d want to choreograph it. I had no choreography experience whatsoever, but I thought, ‘You know, why not just try it?’ And I loved it. The rest is history.
Can you tell me a little bit about the show and its choreography?
It’s a prize-winning play about a window washer who’s trying to make his way up the corporate ladder. Frank Loesser sets it to amazing music. And Bob Fosse, the brilliant choreographer/director, [did musical staging for] the show and the movie. I mean, every musical has movement, and he put together just the most amazing, specific things for the secretaries. When they’re typewriting, it’s almost like their everyday work became dance. It was brilliant and it’s really fun to explore that in the show.
What is the process like for you when choreographing a show?
I always look at the book. My big thing is the why: Why are they dancing right now? What do they need right now, what do the actors need? How is this moving the story forward? [Director Rob Lindley] will tell me what he’s looking for in this, what he’s looking for emotionally, what he’s looking for physically. And then, after that, the music tells you what to do. And then you just go from there.
How do you keep your choreography fresh after working on so many shows?
It’s hard. You just have to approach each one differently, and what motivates me is the story, the music. It’s always different, different time periods. This is in the early ‘60s, and one I worked on last year for Porchlight was in the ‘20s, so different music styles. You know, the Charleston was really big in the ‘20s, and the ‘60s, the Frug and the Monster Mash and the [Mashed] Potato, all those fun dances. So different time periods. It does keep you fresh, and sometimes you just have to take a break [laughs] and recharge.
“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” runs through June 1 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. For tickets and more information, visit Porchlight Theatre’s website or call 773-327-5252.
Photo: (L to R) Elizabeth Telford as Rosemary and Tyler Ravelson as J. Pierrepont Finch. Photo by Kelsey Jorissen.
